Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components are commonly employed to build up larger, more capable systems within limited budgets. One of the main risks of this strategy is the large number of unknowns and variations in the products themselves. In some situations, use of COTS components could defeat the cost advantages of employing such hardware if the developer becomes stuck in a repeated design spin or experiences part obsolescence problems due to disparate development cycles for aerospace versus commercial products.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved adaptation of COTS components during use in evolving designs.